HURRICANE NATE HITS GULF COAST REGION
Mother Nature takes fourth swing at area
Hurricane Nate roared into the Gulf Coast as a fast-moving Category 1 storm last night, lashing towns surrounding the mouth of the Mississippi River with high winds and driving rain as residents braced for life-threatening storm surge from the fourth hurricane to make landfall in the region this year.
Forecasters expect the storm, which killed at least 22 people as it strafed Central America, will pass to the east of New Orleans today and hug the Mississippi coast, where it’s expected to down trees and power lines and leave thousands of Gulf Coast residents from Louisiana to Florida in the dark.
Nate weakened slightly as it made landfall in the area of Plaquemines Parish, La., with maximum winds of 85 mph at about 8 p.m. Weather experts predicted the storm, and its 40-mile-wide wall of hurricane-force winds, would dump between 3 and 6 inches of rain in cities and towns across the Gulf Coast and as much as 10 inches in isolated areas.
The strong winds and rain threatened to cause coastal storm surge and flooding of up to 11 feet in areas, accompanied by “large and destructive waves,” according to the National Weather Service. In addition to the wind and rain, emergency alerts warned that tornadoes were possible across Mississippi, Alabama, western Florida and parts of Georgia.
Nate’s approach prompted gov-
ernors in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, which have been mostly spared during this hectic hurricane season, to declare states of emergency and evacuate some coastal communities.
In Louisiana, the National Guard mobilized 1,300 troops and positioned high-water vehicles, boats and even school buses from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to help with rescues. The Mississippi National Guard called in 75 soldiers, while the state’s Highway Patrol moved an additional 60 state troopers into storm-battered southern communities.
Mississippi Emergency Management Director Lee Smithson warned that Nate would be “the worst hurricane that has impacted Mississippi since Hurricane Katrina.”
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, meanwhile, warned weather-weary residents of the Panhandle to prepare for Nate’s impact, saying “Hurricane Nate is expected to bring lifethreatening storm surges, strong winds and tornadoes.”
More than 40 percent of manned oil- and gas-producing platforms in the Gulf were evacuated ahead of the storm, according to an update from the Interior Department that said workers were shuttled off of 312 of the 737 manned oil platforms. Crews also have been taken off 13 of 20 manned drilling rigs and other rigs have been moved out of the storm’s path.
About one-fifth of U.S. oil is produced in the Gulf. The platforms were mostly spared by Hurricane Harvey in late August.
And though Nate’s path took it to the east of New Orleans, and its speed was expected to reduce the amount of rain it would generate, some worried about the city’s pumping system, which had problems during a heavy thunderstorm Aug. 5. The deluge exposed system weaknesses — including the failure of some pumps and powergenerating turbines — and caused homes and businesses to flood.
After urging state residents to make final preparations, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards cautioned against taking the storm lightly.
“It’s going to hit and move through our area at a relatively fast rate, limiting the amount of time it’s going to drop rain,” Edwards said. “But this is a very dangerous storm nonetheless.”